Members of a Shropshire bowling club are celebrating a “new beginning” with the opening of a replacement clubhouse after fire destroyed the original.
Television presenter Adrian Chiles has been invited to open the £170,000 building at the Bylet Bowling Club in Bridgnorth.
West Bromwich Albion supporter Mr Chiles, who co-hosts the BBC’s The One Show, will perform the opening ceremony on Sunday.
Assistant club secretary Barbara Booth said: “He is a big fan of The Baggies and we have got a big Baggies corner at the club. We want him to cut the ribbon.”
Club members were devastated when burglars burned the original clubhouse down in August 2007.
Thieves broke into the building on Bylet Island in the River Severn, next to Bridgnorth’s Low Town bridge, and targeted a wall safe.
Although they made off with just £333, police believe they were responsible for starting the fire which gutted the building.
Now, after a lengthy fundraising campaign, the new building is up and running and set to be officially opened on Sunday.
Miss Booth said: “We were devastated by what happened, but it’s like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”
The new building boasts a clubroom and bar, committee room and bowling room.
Treasurer Peter Driver said the new clubhouse has cost about £170,000 – and had been raised one metre up to avoid the flooding which plagues the island. “It’s a new beginning,” he said. “The new building is very impressive.”
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